Paul Mason (journalist) Quotes

4 Sourced Quotes

They are cynical about human rights. They don't like immigrants or the European Union. They want the state to be strong and defence, generally, to mean attack. They are, basically, the racist grandad who is going to spoil your Christmas. These are the people pollsters have labelled authoritarian populists.

Paul Mason
When Reagan and Thatcher came to power, authoritarian populism was a term academics used to describe their politics. Now it's a phenomenon, growing rapidly, cutting across old definitions of left and right, goes the argument. But it's not so simple and the phenomenon is not new. The term authoritarian populist is a construct that, if we are not careful, could blind us to the real roots of centrism's sudden crisis – and to the answers.

Paul Mason
Globalisation was an unstoppable natural process; free-market economics simply the natural state of things. But when the country that designed globalisation, imposed it and benefited from it most votes against it, you have to consider the possibility that it is going to end, and suddenly. If so, you also have to consider a possibility that – if you are a liberal, humanist democrat – may be even more shocking: that oligarchic nationalism is the default form of failing economies.

Paul Mason
For the big-mouthed racist right, theirs is a rebellion in favour of order. For them, as in the 1930s, all variations – of gender, race or sexuality – have to be interpreted as the strong versus the weak. They love the theatre of the mass rally, where the charismatic leader – the magic helper, as Fromm called him – can browbeat them so hard with illogic, that when experts confront them with the facts it does not matter.

Paul Mason